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Turning Japanese at Watami

We rarely, I repeat, RARELY, get together, my high school friends and I. Blame it on the jampacked calendars, distance, and the fact the some of us work ungodly hours but we basically just get updated mostly via social media. So when a message from Riz popped up in our Facebook group suggesting we have a mini-reunion, I jumped at the idea.

Well, the usual suspects came so I was justified in pseudo-reserving a table for “only” six at Watami, a Japanese casual dining resto in Mall of Asia.

I was very hungry when I got there since I slept late and didn’t have time for breakfast. I unofficially assumed the role of organizer for this round so I knew I had to at least be the first one at MOA since they don’t accept reservations on weekends. As soon as I sat down, I quickly ordered some California Maki and gyoza, since I don’t know anyone who doesn’t eat those two.

Bigger than your average maki – and tastier too. I specially love the grainy/popping feel of the roe on the sides of each maki.

I forgot to taste the gyoza but judging that they were no leftovers, I guess it’s safe to say they’re good, right?

Skewered all – chicken breast, beef roll and chicken wings. They come with barbecue sauce. Didn’t particularly like this lot, tasted too bland for me and the meat was rubbery..

We also got those self-grill ribs but true to form, I asked the staff if they can grill it for us – at the expense of us smelling like barbecue’d ribs. Hahaha! The ribs were just okay, but better tasting than the skewers.

Self-grilled short ribs

Beef pepper rice and Casu rice in stonepot. The beef pepper rice was okay but nothing to write home about; I would pick pepper lunch anytime.

I’ve been trying to eat healthily starting last week, after months of gorging on Burger King and Jollibee (or not eating at all). As part of that goal, I’ve also started to drink healthily too, skipping iced tea where I can, which was why I got the green citrus tea. Fine, still tea but at least it’s citrusy, right? All those native lemons in my glass should be proof enough that it’s healthy.

green citrus tea

Food was not as great as I was expecting of a well-known Japanese resto but I really loved the maki; plus, the company more than makes up for it.

And then come the endless selfies. We got to discussing the various photo apps available on smart phones nowadays and someone commented that most of the profile photos in Facebook seem to have been heavily filtered using Camera 360 – you know, those telltale orange lips (which I only found out that day was due to a filter in said app), and those magically clear skin/white complexion of people you know are dark-skinned?

I got so intrigued I actually used a magic skin for this picture, using the “natural” variant. Hmm, I think I’ll stick with my trusty Camera Plus app.

Here’s my friend Lei teaching Mheng how to take a proper selfie. Guess what the default mode of her photo app is? Yup – THE SELFIE.

And again…

I’m not particularly fond of selfies, which is probably why this blog which was initially put up so I can post my OOTDs has turned into a somewhat travel/food/movie blog. And I guess my lack of any particular skill at taking my own photographs contributes to that as well. I still love clothes and make up though (but I am still guilty of being a hoarder, without really knowing how to use make up properly. Maybe I should take classes someday). But, owing that I am going to Europe for almost a month on my birth-month, do expect me to go back on my word a bit. After all, how can I ever resist taking selfies with the gorgeous monuments in Europe as backdrops? I can’t wait!

A random thought… It’s funny how we almost never see each other yet we always pick up right where we left off. Makes me wish we were back in high school (yes, even with all the bullying I had to endure, I still love high school), although we technically became friends in grade school. Here’s to decades more of friendship!